Smart Home

Imagine controlling your home appliances, lights and security from your smartphone, no matter where you are.

Sounds like sci-fi? Well that’s exactly what you can do with today’s smart home technology. Smart Home technology is transforming the way we heat, light, secure our homes and live our day to day lives but what does ‘Smart home’ mean and why do you need it?!

What is a smart home?

Creating a connected smart home today is relatively simple. All it takes is connecting any number of Wi-Fi enabled smart devices to your home Wi-Fi network. Once a device is connected to your Wi-Fi, you can access and control it remotely via an app on your smartphone, tablet or even your voice.

That makes it possible to control your home lighting, security and appliances from anywhere in the world over the internet.

How does smart home work?

The internet is at the heart of the connected home. With a Wi-Fi network at home, connect any Wi-Fi enabled device, such as a smart switch or a security camera. Download a free app to your smartphone to control your device.

For smart home products to run smoothly its essential you have a strong Wi-Fi connection throughout your home. The Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi systemwill ensure you have a robust connection and that your smart home products will be able to run smoothly.

Smart home security

One of the most popular uses for smart home technology is home security. With a single Wi-Fi connected security camera you can look after your most valuable asset when you’re not there.

Getting started with remote monitored home security is easy and very affordable. All you need is a Wi-Fi capable smart camera, such as the Netgear Arlo, which is a high definition camera that includes 1080p HD video, two-way audio and night vision.

Just place the camera into your living room, connect it to your Wi-Fi , download the app to your smartphone or tablet and you can see what’s going on at home, no matter where in the world you might be. You can even keep an eye on the kids in one room while relaxing right next door, or watch your pets at home from your smartphone at work.

Once you see what you can do with one camera, it’s simple to add more to monitor different areas of your house, or get one to keep an eye on the holiday home. Plus, with the Ring Video Doorbell you'll never miss a visitor. Interact with visitors from anywhere - so you can keep up to date with your home.

Get smart with lighting

Another way to make your house more secure with smart devices, is by controlling your lighting with smart light switches or light bulbs.

Yes, those are light bulbs and light switches you can control over Wi-Fi from your phone or tablet!

Installing smart lightbulbs are among the most affordable ways to start making your smart home a reality. With smart light bulbs you can turn lights on or off, dim them individually or as a group - from anywhere. You can also create custom schedules and control for your lights individually or as a group, and have your bulbs turn on at sunset and off at sunrise.

Products like the Philips Hue Bulbs also offer a Simulated Occupancy feature that turns your lights on and off automatically to make it look like you’re home even when you’re not. Or have a bit of fun and sync your lights with music and movies with the Philips Hue Ambience Bulbs.

Plus, being LED bulbs, they are super power efficient too - using only 10 watts of energy to provide the same amount of light as traditional 60-watt incandescent bulbs.

Smart light switches meanwhile replace your existing light switches and also let you control your room lights from anywhere with your smartphone, as with the smart bulbs you can use an app to create both simple or complex schedules for your lighting. You can set lights to turn on after dark or before your kids come home from school, or turn specific lights off every day to reduce power consumption. Or even turn lights on and off at different times on different days.

'Alexa, turn up the music!'

Smart speakers are an easy introduction to smart home technology. One of our personal favourites it the Amazon Echo. This voice enabled speaker not only looks good but you can ask it to play your favourite music, tell you the latest news or check the traffic.

For the music lover we would recommend the Sonos One Smart Speaker. This chic looking speaker combines premium quality sound with built in Amazon Alexa functionality.